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"I was in favour for a long time and then suddenly you're out of favour, that's the way sport is.

"But it's important to look back and be very grateful for what we did manage to achieve, rather than 'I'm a few short of 100'.

"It does motivate you, and it still does. I still feel I'm playing good rugby, I'd love to wear the red jersey again, but you just come to appreciate that selection is an uncontrollable.

"You play as well as you can; there are some great, great players who play brilliantly who just haven't been picked for Wales and I've been very lucky in my career to have done it 94 times."

Roberts made his debut against Scotland in the 2008 Six Nations Championship when he was selected on the wing.

And the qualified doctor, who is back in Cardiff having jetted back from Cape Town, where he was playing for the Stormers before the coronavirus pandemic shut down sport, admits it was tough not being on the Test scene.

"It was very difficult. You're in the side for nine years, 10 years and then - bang - you're not. It's tough... I'd been involved in every Test campaign from when I was 21 to 31," Roberts said.

"It's hard being told 'right, we're going with someone else', especially 18 months out from a World Cup because that was a goal, to play in a third World Cup. I see it in a different light now but when you're in that, as any player will tell you, it's really frustrating and tough to take.

"I'm a realist as well, watching that (2019) Grand Slam in Cardiff was amazing - I was doing commentary that day - and the World Cup as well. It's not so much closure - that's probably the wrong word as I still have Test ambitions - but it was kind of, well that's that World Cup cycle and I'm not involved in that, so c'est la vie."

Wallabies wanted to send a message to Six Nations over World Rugby vote

Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean says the organisation's backing of Agustin Pichot as World Rugby boss was sending out a message to the Six Nations.

Countries went to the polls on Sunday to elect the next chairman of World Rugby with former Argentinian scrum-half Pichot going up against the incumbent Bill Beaumont for the top job.

Pichot has been vice-chairman for the past four years and his bid to oust former England skipper Beaumont was initially seconded bu the Australians in the nominations.

It has been reported that the outcome could come down to the wire, with the result revealed on May 12.

Pichot is a strong advocate for the Nations Championship tournament, but key Six Nations countries protested to the idea of promotion and relegation from the European competition.

McLean said the decision to move away from the Nations Championship concept was one of the reasons the SANZAAR nations put their support behind Pichot.

He told rugby.au.com: "We as SANZAAR decided collectively that we would support our own in that regard and we've been very upfront with Bill Beaumont, the chairman, about that, the current chairman about that," he said.

"We were very disappointed that we didn't get the global competition up and running last year.

"No greater interest than self-interest and that was the case in that regard.

"We thought it was, would've been a defining moment in our game and it was well thought through and engaging the Tier Two nations as well as the Tier One nations.

"You know what it looked like and we thought it was just a no-brainer and a clever (idea).

"That didn't happen and we've made it clear that we were unhappy about that and we were unhappy about the process and that was SANZAAR because there was a benefit to not just the SANZAAR countries but our region and that was our pacific Island region etcetera.

"So, one - we stuck together and SANZAAR have done that and we let it be known to the Northern Hemisphere that we were unhappy about that and we think it should be revisited sooner rather than later."

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Rugby's top players could lose as much as three stone in muscle mass during the shutdown of sport during the coronavirus pandemic.

That's the forecast of former Gloucester physiotherapist Luke Anthony with players spending a bulk of their time at home during the Covid-19 lockdown.

He says rugby players will have felt the full effects on their body of not playing games or having access to training regimes ans nutrients.

And that could mean players, weighing between 100 and 120kg, losing as much as 20kg of muscle.

Anthony, who has also worked with Premier League club Norwich City and Reading as well as Gallagher Premiership rugby club Gloucester, told The Sun: “Guys will lose weight.

“Forwards who are between 100 to 120kg will lose between 10 to 20kg of muscle mass.

“These guys are freakishly big and it takes a lot of work, from a training and nutritional point of view, to maintain it.

“As soon as you drop off, so does the weight.

“Some will be OK weight-wise, others will struggle. Not all of them will still be squatting 180kg, deadlifting, bench-pressing — the basics — so will lose muscle mass.

“They will be de-conditioned, but rugby will probably have to compromise somewhere to get back to a safe level to play.

“Realistically, it’s four weeks bare minimum. If you have a long period out, then ramp it up quickly, your body is more prone to injury. You need to build up tolerance."

Women's Six Nations set to be moved

The women's Six Nations looks set to be moved to later in the year in an effort to give it more exposure.

The Guardian report moves are afoot to change the calendar amid unhappiness at the way games were shoehorned into lunchtime kick-offs around the men's tournament this season.

“We are studying a possible specific window different to the men’s as part of an update to the global calendar for the women’s international game,” said a Six Nations spokesperson. “This is a working option right now, no decision is made yet.”